What Items To Have In a Cruising Sailboat First Aid Kit. Boating First Aid

We have been living aboard our boat Rising Star for three years now, cruising the Caribbean from Miami to Panama and everywhere in between.

In that time we have had burns, broken fingers and toes, numerous cuts, heartburn, diarrhea, and more.

This is just normal on a cruising boat where everything moves or is slippery.

We carry a first aid kit that is well stocked and we have used it quite a few times.

It is important that a cruiser's first aid kit be waterproof, with a sealing O ring around the edge and a compression closure, or else dampness will destroy the contents.

A good boating first aid kit for offshore should have things to treat burns, minor and major cuts and lacerations as well as sprains and broken bones.

You need to have hospital quality tweezers to remove broken glass, scissors, items to make splints, large size bottles of iodine and triple antibiotic ointment. It should also be well stocked with lots of bandages of all sizes for minor cuts.

You should have a scalpel in case you need to excise an embedded hook miles from shore.

For swelling and pain you should have instant cold packs. You need skin staples to close large wounds, eye wash for battery and other accidents and eye patches.

The items you need for offshore cruising are numerous and I'm not going to list them all but what you want to look for is a kit that is made for offshore cruising or one for coastal waters if that is where you are going to sail.

The difference between the two kind of kits are that one is for minor patching up and the other for major patching up when help may be days away.

You may consider getting a prescription for serious painkillers to add to the kit. Carry all prescription information as you may be searched and asked about it.

Stock it with extra over the counter medicines such as anti diarreah medicine, antacids, etc.

Check with your doctor before taking off on your cruise and get all of your inoculations plus anti malarial pills if you are going to areas where it is a problem.

You may want to make a smaller copy of your primary first aid kit to keep in your "ditch bag" or abandon boat kit.

A good first aid kit onboard your cruising sailboat can save your life so don't skimp.

In addition to a good first aid kit we keep a copy of Wilderness Medicine onboard which gives instructions on how to deal with just about anything, from an emergency tracheotomy to setting a broken arm.